It's like that itch...

you can't reach to scratch.

Yesterday afternoon during Bible Study, the phone rang.  I have a practice of not answering the phone if I have company, or if I am on the phone long distance with someone, so I let the call go to voice mail.  Besides, my phone tells me who's calling and I certainly didn't recognize the garbled name the computer generated voice said so I knew it was probably not an important call.

Then, of course, I totally forgot about the call all together. 

Later that afternoon I had a moment of recall and I checked the phone message list.  The last call was from...of all people...Birdlady...my itch I can't reach to scratch.  But, no message was left, so of course that got me to fretting over what in the world I could have done now to warrant her wanting to contact me.

I mean, I stewed and stewed about this until Frankie was about to throw me out of the house.  She suggested I simply call her back and ask what she wanted.  Oh, I don't think so, if she has a problem with me, I'm not going to just answer the door...no, she's going to have to keep knocking for a while.

Well, let me tell you I went to bed pondering and pondering.  I woke up pondering and pondering.  Mostly over the fact that since she called, she now knows from my message I have a company, and that I work from home.  Does she so dislike me she is going to check with the city to see if I'm licenced to operate a business out of my home?  I would not be surprised.  Especially since a few years back she reported me to the health department because I was feeding the birds, and thereby encouraging the rat population. 

And, although the guy from the health department said he could see no indication I was responsible for the rats in the neighborhood, and that I was not breaking any laws feeding the birds.  He suggested I might want to move my bird feeding activity to the back yard.  Of course I have no 'back yard' to speak of, so...and although it broke my  heart...I stopped feeding the birds all together.  Birdlady and I have not spoken since.

So, when I discovered she called yesterday, I was truly in 'a dither', that itch I can't reach to scratch was really itching.

Finally this morning I figured out why there was no message connected with her
call.  Birdlady and husband are in charge of the neighborhood watch, and believe me...they watch.  Anyway, they produced a 'telephone tree', so everybody on the street knows every body's number, and we are easy to contact.  Here's the thing...my neighbor across the street has the same first name as me...different spelling but the same.  And on the 'phone tree' we are right next to each other, so I suspect Birdlady was actually trying to reach her, not me.  Imagine, Birdlady actually making a mistake.

I'm breathing a lot easier this morning, although, in the back of my mind I have to wonder if she has in the back of hers the thought of wanting to check out my business status.  I guess time will tell.  However, I will not be surprised at all if someday the city shows up on my door step with a clipboard and a badge.